How VDI Reduces the Risks of BYOD Technology leaders face a new challenge with consumerization of IT, as everyone from desktop workers to executives brings personal mobile devices into the workplace, expecting fast connections to the corporate network. The right Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution can greatly reduce the risks to security, business continuity, and performance introduced by the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend. A Virtual Bridges Briefing Paper August 2012 1
Contents Reducing the Risks of BYOD How VDI and Virtual Bridges Address BYOD Risks Risk No. 1: Security Threats Risk No. 2: Loss of Business Continuity Risk No. 3: Performance Hits Summary: The Virtual Bridges Advantage 2
Reducing the Risks of BYOD As if challenges with security, software cost and complexity, and support and control of desktop systems aren t enough, IT now faces another burgeoning issue: the consumerization of IT. As workers increasingly enjoy high-end consumer devices and anywhere, anytime connectivity outside the workplace, they are bringing those devices and expectations to work. The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend means that users now want access to the Internet, along with corporate email, applications, and data, from every mobile device they own. In many cases, those devices are no longer issued or controlled by IT. Rather, users purchase them for personal use, then expect the same sort of unfettered access that they enjoy virtually anywhere outside the workplace. Enterprises are responding by allowing employees to connect personal devices to the corporate network. A 2012 Gartner study of the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend found that 90 percent of companies have already deployed mobile devices in the enterprise, especially smart phones; nearly as many 86 percent said they will deploy tablet devices sometime this year.¹ Mobility and network access from anywhere has become increasingly critical and accepted not just for your employees, but your partners and customers as well. With that kind of corporate acceptance of BYOD setting the pace, high-end mobile devices bring a host of risks that IT must move quickly to manage. Risks are inherent in network management, but BYOD raises the ¹ 2012 Gartner BYOD Study: Enterprises Just Say Yes. 938 qualified respondents worldwide; organizations had 500 or more employees and an in-house data center. 3
bar, calling for more secure access to applications and data, along with consistent performance on a variety of devices, and business continuity and support regardless of the user s endpoint device. Typically, traditional IT management methods, already teetering under the stress of managing thousands of diverse desktops, can t scale to effectively manage the additional load of a BYOD environment. Recognizing that, companies are moving to virtual desktops. The Gartner study found that over the next 12 months, the vast majority of respondents plan to transform their desktop PC client environment to hosted virtual desktops. With the right VDI solution in place, BYOD risks can be mitigated and employee needs addressed effectively. After all, for all of its potential headaches, the consumer-ization of IT also offers considerable benefits to the enterprise. Capital expenses can be reduced when employees elect to use their own mobile devices and access plans. Accommodating personal devices in the workplace can extend worker productivity, since it allows employees to access devices, email and data at more times and places. With access to their desktops from anywhere, workers can collaborate with others without constraint. With carefully crafted BYOD policies in place to regulate security and data access, along with the right VDI solution to help IT bring devices under control, the inherent risks of BYOD can be controlled, cutting capital expenses and enhancing employee productivity while keeping the network functioning and secure. 4
How VDI and Virtual Bridges Address BYOD Risk There s little doubt that the incursion of consumer devices changes the enterprise landscape for IT, bringing increased pressure to bear on network management issues. The right VDI solution can help by addressing three key areas of risk in particular: Security threats, business continuity and support challenges, and operational efficiency issues that can derail performance on any device. Done properly, VDI can address each of these BYOD risks, turning the challenge of the consumer-ization of IT into a sustained benefit for the enterprise. BYOD Risk No. 1: Security Threats Solution: Pixels, not actual data, are delivered to users; data remains in the data center Security is an ongoing challenge for any enterprise, and consumer devices on the corporate network up the ante by requiring IT to attempt the impossible to keep permanent enterprise data off endpoint devices. Even with strict policies and data encryption, corporate security risks ratchet up under a BYOD program. Fortunately, VDI already supports a highly secure infrastructure. By definition, virtualized desktops mean that no data resides on any endpoint device. Much like the screen-scraping technologies used with mainframe computers, desktop virtualization means that only a representation of the screen appears on any device. Whether users access corporate data and systems through desktop PCs, notebook computers, tablets or phones, the process is the same. Pixels, not data, flow to the user; no actual data is delivered to the device, 5
and all data remains in the data center. If a device is misplaced, lost or stolen, no data is compromised. Without appropriate access such as user ID and password, there is no access to the backend server, and thus no access to enterprise data. Furthermore, VDI means that virus protection resides on the server rather than on individual devices, making device security in a BYOD environment far easier to maintain. IT keeps virus software current, maintains one set of rules and restrictions, and monitors one set of security software. Users access their desktops from any device, blissfully unaware of the protections in place. Tracking the flow of data for compliance purposes is also made much easier with VDI. Ironically, industries such as healthcare and finance are among those at the forefront of embracing the promise of consumer mobile devices in the workforce. Those industries, however, must also follow a myriad of data privacy and security regulations, including HIPAA for healthcare and Gramm- Leach-Bliley for financial institutions. Again, because virtualization means that data never leaves the server, there are no issues with tracking data dispensed to individual devices, thus eliminating one of the potential trouble spots in compliance for IT. BYOD Challenge No. 2: Loss of Business Continuity Solution: Sessions that run in the data center, not on devices With an increased number of devices vying for network access and IT support, business continuity can be a risk for any BYOD program. The risk of employee downtime increases when there is a greater number and variety of devices to track and support. 6
VDI already addresses business continuity issues by maintaining control of the desktop at the server level. Users who connect to their desktops via mobile device are connecting to a session running on the corporate servers, much as someone using a cloud-based application connects to the cloud. With VDI, control remains in the data center as long as the connection in available, so is the desktop session. Figure 3: In this illustration, the VERDE Core consists of building-block components of Linux-based servers that are scaled out horizontally. Further addressing the risk of an interruption in business continuity, Virtual Bridges VERDE offers seamless roaming capabilities between offline and online user sessions. Users are connected to a single desktop during a session. There is no need for IT to support various versions of applications for various devices, since software runs at the server level using integrated elements. 7
Backing up consumer devices, another business continuity challenge, isn t a concern with VDI, since data never leaves the data center. Backups are handled by IT, not users, so that the malfunction, loss or destruction of a mobile device does not mean the loss of any data. BYOD Risk No. 3: Performance Hits Solution: Processing that happens closer to mobile devices in the field With an influx of new devices that demand network access around the clock, BYOD can adversely impact network performance. Users are increasingly attuned to high performance on personal endpoints outside the office, and they bring those expectations to the workplace along with their devices. The burden then falls on IT to meet those expectations. Virtual Bridges avoids performance issues through its unique decentralized design. The use of VERDE Cloud Branch technology, in which desktops are hosted on branch servers and managed from the data center, puts VDI processing closer to mobile devices in the field. That avoids the latency issues that can arise when mobile users connect back to a remote data center. VERDE s decentralized structure also can provide access to applications on mobile devices even when the data center itself is unreachable. Virtual Bridges builtfrom-the-ground-up design yields tight integration and a small footprint, further assuring users a high-quality connection and performance regardless of the device they are using. 8
Summary : Bring BYOD Risks under Control with VDI BYOD can empower your workers and provide an advantage is today s competitive business arena by offering the ability to work anywhere, anytime greatly improving productivity and increasing collaboration. Recognizing that, more and more companies are allowing employees to connect their personal mobile devices to the network. However, BYOD introduces risks as well, including the security challenge of managing data on a range of endpoints, potential performance issues with far-flung mobile devices, and business continuity challenges. Virtual desktop technology is tailor-made to help manage the challenges of BYOD. The right VDI technology and approach can address the inherent risks of a BYOD program in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Whatever your enterprise s desktop management strategy and BYOD policy, Virtual Bridges offers a solution to help mitigate the risks of BYOD. Copyright 2012 Virtual Bridges, Inc. All rights reserved. Virtual Bridges 6300 Bridge Point Parkway Building 1, Suite 350 Austin, TX 78730 9